Everything You Need to Know About Freeview HD Channels
| Reuben Howe
Giving TV access to the nation at an affordable price has been a goal of UK-based company August, supplier of the DVB Set Top Boxes and USB TV Tuners, for many years. Having access to DVB-T and DVB-T2 signals is one thing, but understanding what that gives you and how to access them is another!
This article is a brief overview of all the little knowledge-gaps and tid-bits that will help you access and understand Freeview HD.
What is Freeview TV?
A very good place to start: Freeview TV is the name given to DVB-T and DVB-T2 free-to-air channels in the UK. A lot of people assume Freeview is the name of Free to Air channels worldwide, or offers a bespoke service, when in reality any digital terrestrial TV accessed via DVB-T and DVB-T2 signals is a Freeview equivalent.
It might be called TNT, or simply DVB-T, but it’s all the same free-to-air goodness that we in the UK call Freeview.
Channels for Freeview are Digital Terrestrial TV Channels which means they are different from FreeSAT, the Satellite equivalent. Learn more about Freeview vs Freesat here, but it’s not required reading for this light article.
What is Freeview HD?
You may have noticed that I claimed Freeview was made up of DVB-T and DVB-T2 signals. This differentiation is the easiest way to understand how Freeview and Freeview HD behave. DVB-T2 gives access to Freeview HD channels while DVB-T only accesses standard Freeview.
Once your signals are sorted, the actual tangible differences have changed over time. While Freeview HD is, naturally, a HD variant (Meaning it is broadcast in 1920 x 1080p full HD resolution) there are some other changes too.
Channel numbers, manual frequency searching and even some channels existing on SD but not HD are all possible differences.
What Channels Have HD Versions?
Discovering that the Freeview HD library isn’t just a HD copy of the original SD channel list can cause quite a problem when looking for lovely HD TV. Fortunately, you can use the Freeview Channel Checker and select “HD” shown below to see all the available HD versions for your area.
For example, over in London you can get HD versions of BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC 4 and BBC 3 while in Cardiff you get the extra S4C HD as well.
The list of HD channels isn’t as exhaustive as the original listing, so you won’t have too much trouble finding your HD variants.
How To Watch Freeview HD Channels
Once you know which Freeview HD channels might be available, you can go and watch them! The easiest way across the UK to get to your HD channels is to go straight to channel number 101 (Rather than 001) and you'll land on BBC1 HD for your region.
From 101, the HD channels follow a similar pattern to your SD ones. From Channel 101 for BBC1 HD to Channel 110 for Channel 4 HD, you can find all the HD variants here easily.
Pro Tip
To access HD Channels quickly, without typing in the number or having to scroll to the hundreds in the EPG every time, you can set your HD variants as favourites. This transforms your favourites menu into a “HD Menu” so you can easily switch to your HD channels from anywhere else.
Bear in mind that recording HD channels may take more storage space, so if you have an internal device make sure it has the space. If you are more flexible and have an external device for storing recordings, you can have one USB stick or drive for SD and one for HD to keep your storage organised.
Explore DVB-T2 Set Top Boxes, USB TV Tuners and More
Daffodil have been distributing affordable TV solutions across the UK for many years, and all of our Set Top Boxes support Freeview HD channels. Our USB tuner DVB-T210 supports HD as well as the portable TVs DA100 and DA900.
If you have any queries about our articles and content please email content@digitaldaffodil.com
For customer service and product inquiries please use service@idaffodil.co or call 01920 487 770 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
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